Asus To Ship Ubuntu 10.10 On Three Eee PC Netbooks 142
An anonymous reader writes "Asus has announced that three Eee PCs will ship with Ubuntu Linux. Three 2011 models — the 1001PXD, 1011PX, and 1015PX — are immediately available, though no retailers seem to stock them yet. A Canonical exec had this to say about the new netbooks: 'There are a number of factors that make Ubuntu an attractive proposition for ASUS and its customers. Ubuntu continues to set the standard for slick design, ease of use and security, it is the world's third most popular operating system, and [it] has the most number of users in Linux. We [Canonical] were looking at publicly available data on the operating systems accessing Wikipedia last week and found the web site serves more pages to Ubuntu PCs than to iPads — there are a lot of users out there.' It might not be the same as Asus launching three flagship netbooks all running Ubuntu instead of Windows, but it's definitely a start. Asus says there are more Ubuntu netbooks to come later this year, too — hopefully they'll run Ubuntu 11.04."
Excellent about time (Score:1)
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Wrong. Netbooks have been shipped with Linux before. Wal-mart had them. I got mine on Amazon.
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This is Slashdot.
Retailers (Score:2)
Re:Retailers (Score:5, Insightful)
I dunno, they seem to manage fine with iOS and android. We're talking about netbooks, so the different form factor makes people intuitively not expect it to be *exactly* the same as what they've always used. And Unity is closer to looking like android/iOS than windows, which makes even more sense if the device is looking more like a phone than a desktop... although I definitely agree that not including Unity is an obvious choice. That stuff is just a disaster at present.
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Unity isn't in 10.10. Good thing, because it sucks. I'm now using Mint.
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Did you happen to have that sort of torrent with the Xoom or the Iconia Tab A500?
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Also hope they include a disc or flash drive with a Ubuntu installer on it for when it randomly decides to not load up anymore.
"Randomly" is a bit unfair. If Linux doesn't load, it's because of an update gone wrong or a hardware failure, just as it would on any other OS. But that falls on the user to ensure what is or isn't updated, which seems to be asking too much from many.
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But that falls on the user to ensure what is or isn't updated, which seems to be asking too much from many.
Am I reading this right?
If I'm running sid, then sure, I should watch out for broken updates. But if I'm running a distro that doesn't brand itself as pre-testing and unstable, it isn't my job as user to monitor the updates for potential breakage. Rather, it is the distro's job to test its updates before it pushes them out for general consumption. I think it is asinine to suggest that the users of a stable distribution shuold need to check the stability of updates that are pushed by the distribution.
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It's Unix. Why are you molesting it all the time? Just leave it be.
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I think it is asinine to suggest that the users of a stable distribution shuold need to check the stability of updates that are pushed by the distribution.
Define "stable distribution". Every single Linux distribution has pushed out a problematic update of one kind or another at some point in its history, So have Windows. So have Macs. It's grand and all that you want to absolve the user of any responsibility, but that's not how life works. Sometimes we screw up, mostly because we don't know what we're doing or haven't thought things through and blindly clicked the "continue" button. That includes the maintainers of distributions.
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I am saying that if I'm using a distribution that sells itself as being for mass consumption and stable, then these broke
Re:Retailers (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.google.com/search?q=Microsoft+Best+buy+employee
Don't count on Best Buy carrying these or expect to keep getting it pulled from your hands by Best Buy employees shoving Microsoft at you.
LoB
Macs at Best Buy (Score:2)
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LoB
Why worry? (Score:2)
"Asus says there are more Ubuntu netbooks to come later this year, too — hopefully they'll run Ubuntu 11.04.""
Why worry? Its not like it takes too much time or effort to update to the next version. At least this way if people hate Unity they aren't forced to use it.
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People arn't "forced to use" unity if they hate it, you can still install and switch to KDE or Gnome (as i did when i upgraded from 10.10 ro 11.04), however i agree that the decision to use 10.10 is a good one as its very stable now, and ships with Gnome as opposed to Unity.
(by this logis, 10.01 "forces" people to use Gnome who might want to use unity, eventhough its as simple as installing the approperate packages from the repositories.)
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My home machine has been Ubuntu only since 8.04 and I upgraded to 11.04 without any problems.
Each user has their own desktop, mine uses Unity, my wife's is Gnome configured to look like WinXP and my 6 year old has a Gnome desktop with minimal menu for edutainment software, games and a locked down browser to visit Discovery Kids and Cartoon Network's sites.
We are very happy and everything works fine.
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I upgraded to 11.04 and had no issues. I tried Unity out and didn't like it so I just chose the classic desktop when I logged in and was right back to my normal Gnome environment. There's really nothing to "deal with" ... just upgrade and then it's as simple as choosing Gnome when you (or her) login if you don't want Unity. It's really that easy. Unity is just the new default, but Gnome is still there if you choose it.
You should stop telling her not to upgrade and just do it. I've been a daily Ubuntu user s
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She can't click on her login, then change the dropdown to something other than unity?
You might want to find a smarter wife.
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My live in girlfriend who has lived with me for over 5 years, been going out for about 11, runs 11.04 on her PC, and Android 2.3.3 (CM 7) on her Droid.
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She's been dating you for five years? You're lucky you don't have a smarter girlfriend.
Sorry to be a dick, but you're earlier comment invited it. Was there really a need to insult my Linux using wife? Show some manners.
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No, 11 years. We have been living together for a little over 5.
It's pretty clear your wife isn't the only dummy in your family.
Try a little reading comprehension.
Stop being a little girl and get over it. I actually think your wife is probably smart enough to use a drop down, you are just a jerk who underestimates her abilities.
Re:Why worry? (Score:5, Insightful)
good god i hope they dont ship 11.04. Your average gnome 2.4 desktop is mildly understandable for joe sipack (especially once you move to just one panel, at the bottom), but unity is a fricking usability disaster. Once they ship eee's with 11.04, they will have a repeat of the original eee 701 on their hands, massive returns by clueless commoners unable to connect to their wireless and start ther browser.
i've tried installing 11.04 on my oldish laptop, and the thing is horribly unstable, and basicaly unusable, while old versions of ubuntu run without a hitch
Honestly, the first system i buy with ubuntu 11.04 pre-installed will have its drive wiped as if it were running vista
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"Massive usability disaster" is an understatement. I tried lodging my complaints about 10.10 unity on the netbook and got shouted down on the official forums. 10.04 is nearly ideal, but 10.10 is slow as molasses and not at all intuitive or structured around getting things done in an expeditious manner. It's even more frustrating for "power users". I heard a rumor that Unity from 10.10 netbook edition was going to get rolled into a later desktop release. I hope not.
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11.04 has Unity in the desktop release (indeed, there's no longer a separate netbook edition), but it's a significant rewrite and, IMO, significantly better (certainly faster and more stable) than the 10.10 version of Unity.
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Sorry to hear that you've had trouble. Personally, I've been quite pleased with Natty, especially since switching to xfce.
I like it so much that the next time I do a full OS install I'll be using Xubuntu. (Currently just running xfce on plain ol' Ubuntu, 11.04 upgraded from a fresh install of 10.10)
Do bear in mind, though, that I'm the sort who thinks a widescreen monitor is best used rotated 90 degrees because emacs works really great that way.
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Do bear in mind, though, that I'm the sort who thinks a widescreen monitor is best used rotated 90 degrees because emacs works really great that way.
Almost everything does. Not sure which "consumer" decided computers should all be widescreen rather than longscreen, but he better hope I never meet him in a narrow alleyway.
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As others have said, it's not really just the interface - for a netbook with a widescreen, it's great!
The real problem is the instability. It's new, and needs a few more versions of being subjected to every weird hardware and software combination available before it'll be stable enough for Joe Sixpack. KDE 4.X and Gnome 2 have gone though this already, and tend to be rock stable.
When Unity gets there, maby. But the first time it crashes because of an unstable graphics driver or other such, well... Joe Sixpa
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Why worry? Its not like it takes too much time or effort to update to the next version.
False. If there is one problem with Ubuntu, it is that upgrading from one version to another is completely broken, and ASUS would be better off not having too handle such problems.
If you are one of those few who have not had any problems, consider yourself lucky. However, it may be possible to ensure that it works properly for a limited set of laptops.
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I only had a problem once with Kubuntu. Basically it crashed during upgrade and when it came back my mouse and keyboard wouldn't work. But everything got fixed when I chose 'update' again.
Never had problems otherwise over the past 3 years or so.
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Actually I solved it by inserting another USB mouse. It was quite weird, the touchpad was dead but the USB wasn't. Then I used the onscreen keyboard.
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False, I have been updating from one version of Ubuntu to the next for at least 2 years, with minimal problems.
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False, I have been updating from one version of Ubuntu to the next for at least 2 years, with minimal problems.
Aside from the fact that upgrades take about six hours, the last time I upgraded my MythTV server the upgrade crashed part-way through and took some effort to fix. For the laptop and netbook I generally just copy /home to an external disk and then reinstall because it's faster and more reliable.
The Year of Linux on the Desktop (Score:1)
I've got a feeling that 2011 is the year of Linux on the desktop.
My previous calculations based on random numbers in the Bible was off by about 5 years or so.
Re:The Year of Linux on the Desktop (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, on Oct 21st the worthy Mac and Windows users will be raptured to a place where their old machines will be discarded and instead they will use Eee Books running Ubuntu. This will be a time of Unity.
The unworthy will be stuck using their Mac and Windows machines, or for the truly unworthy BSD.
Re:The Year of Linux on the Desktop (Score:4, Funny)
DNF is shipping. Anything can happen.
Pity they picked Ubuntu right now (Score:2, Insightful)
It might all be fine again in a year's time, it was fine a year back, but plumping for Ubuntu just as they go their own way with Unity doesn't strike me as the best way of getting a slick Linux. (The same would go for a GNOME 3 distro right now, like Fedora.) I'd have been tempted to put on Linux Mint, Mandriva or openSuSE -- something accessible and slick enough, but likely to have a more stable user experience for a while...
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Ignore me. Reading which version they put on is useful before jumping in and commenting like an idiot.
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Yeah, I've not been on Slashdot long but it's long enough to get out of the habit of even reading the summary, let alone the article...
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They're going to run it on netbooks, however, and the 10.10 netbook remix used Unity.
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I've not used Unity on a netbook but what I've read gives me the impression that it's a bit less of a... culture shock, on a netbook. I'd imagine Asus tested it out and found that it was fine.
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Unity on the netbook is pretty slow, clunky and unintuitive. It's sort of like they reverse-engineered the apple dock from a blurry, static screenshot and forgot to add smoothness and right click context menus, drag and drop functionality, etc. Someone way up the decision chain did someone a favor without reviewing it personally.
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Hmmm. If that's so, then I read wrong. Glad I never tried it.
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The Netbook Edition of 10.10 does use Unity. The 11.04 version of Unity is a pretty big change over the earlier version (for example, they changed from using Mutter in 10.10 to using Compiz in 11.04), and, IME, is much more stable.
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Yeah, no, going their own way with Unity is pretty much the only they are ever going to get a "slick Linux".
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That may be true in the future - I'm willing to wait and see - but right now Unity isn't *that* slick. Neither is GNOME 3, by all accounts, though I've not tried it myself so I can't say. Unity might be great in a year's time (or even at 11.10) and if so, well, great. I'm not that wedded to KDE or XFCE... But right now it would seem a bit premature to plump for 11.04.
Fortunately for Asus, though not for me, I didn't actually read anything (even the *title*) and Asus went for 10.10, which is probably what a
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Yes, well, it sure isn't quite ready for primetime yet, but here we have it anyway. At least their bug tracker should get a workout.
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Yeah. I plan on trying it in November :)
10.10 (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:10.10 (Score:5, Insightful)
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10.04 is a better choice for ASUS as it will be supported until April 2013. 10.10's support ends a year earlier.
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10.04 is the right version 10.10 has shutdown issues with eeepc I have a 1015pem ans the sound system prevents shutdowns. see here [ubuntu.com] I did not have this issue with 10.04 I was hoping that 11.04 would fix it.
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I've been thinking for a while that Canonical should distribute their own line of hardware, perhaps 3 models of laptop at various levels of power and price, similar to the Apple model, but cheaper, and open. This would get around some of the problems people run into with unusual, unsupported wireless and video cards. If done right, it could probably pull off marketing it as a bit of an upscale laptop.
You mean like System76 [system76.com]? I guess it's not run by Canonical, but they are Ubuntu partners [system76.com].
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First, Ubuntu 10.10 is based on Linux but it is not Linux any more than any other distribution built on top of a linux kernel is Linux.
Second, even if all distributions based on Linux had this particular problem that wouldn't make Windoze a better system because it did that one thing better.
Third, my point was explicitly that Ubuntu 10.10 had that problem for me with that particular hardware but that previous Ubuntu versions didn't so it is difficult to see how you could hone
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I made no such claim. Please stop putting words in my mouth.
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Hopefully they WON'T run Ubuntu 11.04 (Score:2)
Asus shipping Linux again? I know what that means! (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft must have been late with its kickback check this quarter. I hope the check isn't already in the mail, otherwise these won't be available for long.
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Microsoft must have been late with its kickback check this quarter.
Where is that funny & insightful mod button when you need it?
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No, you misunderstand.
They're shipping it on exactly three netbooks, not three netbook MODELS.
I hope I get one of the three... I'd hate to be the fourth buyer and have to pay the MS tax...
Sounds nice (Score:5, Insightful)
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most OEMs pay MS per unit shipped, no per unit with windows installed.
You'll pay for windows, even if you do not get it
One of the reason is called th MS "tax"
Re:Sounds nice (Score:4, Interesting)
most OEMs pay MS per unit shipped, no per unit with windows installed.
That practice was, as I understand it, supposed to have ended in 1994. There have been allegations that it continues, but no whistleblowers have come forward with a smoking gun, which is pretty impressive, given the number of people that would have had to be privy to such agreements over the years.
These days, I believe, they rely on financial incentives tied to adware and trial-versions of software to be bundled with OEM releases of Windows, to offset the cost of Windows itself and remove the incentive OEMs might have to offer cheaper (e.g. free) OSes as an alternative. The result is: Microsoft is happy because they're still getting paid, even if it's by ISVs instead of directly by the OEMs, and because they get to promote their other products; the OEMs are happy because they're paying less for the OS; and ISVs are happy because they're getting a very cost-effective form of advertising. The only losers are the customers who now get machines clogged with adware and free-trialware that they may have no interest in, and other OS vendors who can no longer compete on price, even if that price is zero.
This is where it gets interesting: if Ubuntu can start making enough money off of their partnership deals with companies like Amazon and Google, they may be able to start paying OEMs for including Ubuntu instead of Windows. Hence, I suspect, Ubuntu's recent controversial moves regarding Banshee.
Ubuntu on EeeBox is great (Score:2)
Great that they're switching to Ubuntu. I've got Ubuntu running on a little Asus EeeBox in the kitchen for the past two years. It came with some Asus-branded version of Linux that was terrible; but I dumped that right away for Ubuntu. It works great; never had any problems. It's a nice, small box, humming away under the cabinet, connected to a monitor mounted on the wall. My wife and kids use it primarily for email and web stuff, and play music on it. None of them have ever complained about Ubuntu or asked
About Time... (Score:2)
Re:About Time... (Score:5, Interesting)
The original Linux EEE PCs ran the most god-awful distro imaginable.
It had to fit in 2GB of file space, and still have something left for users. But I agree that it sucks. I have several EeePC 2G Surf machines, obtained cheaply from a failed startup company. I use them to run some embedded system demos, where all that runs is one Python application. The biggest problem is that the WiFi driver is flaky. The second biggest problem is that the "union" file system, which makes one read-only file system and one read-write file system appear to be a single pathname space, leaks inodes, and has to be flushed out occasionally.
The problem with Asus is that they can't be trusted as a Linux vendor. They've had on again, off again Linux support for years.
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SSD versions? (Score:2)
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People stopped buying them, just like they stopped buying the ones with the 9" screen. It's a shame, I loved my tiny SSD-based netbook.
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A 120G is useful for more than just the OS install. It's also handy for data.
If a machine is under-spec'ed it will likely do poorly regardless of what OS you put on it.
I got a couple of the original netbooks off of woot for yuks and the keyboard is painful to use (but not too bad) but the storage is just too meagre.
The screen is also a bit tiny. This is an area where the whole tablet (or hybrid) thing makes a lot of sense. More screen, smaller over all footprint.
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Great if you don't want to pay the tax. (Score:2)
Odd comparisons... (Score:1)
There are a number of factors that make Ubuntu an attractive proposition for ASUS and its customers. Ubuntu continues to set the standard for slick design
Compared to what? Windows XP? I'm pretty sure nobody is looking to Linux to get design ideas. OS X sets the standard for clean, polished design, IMNSHO. Windows 7 next if you care about translucency. It is still pretty obvious that Linux is primarily created by programmers, though it has gotten better over the years. As a programmer myself, I can tell you that you shouldn't let us design interfaces. In an ideal work environment, I would be paired with a designer who knows his shit. Well, unless I'm doing ba
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I think all the netbooks w/ Linux preinstalled got killed off pretty quickly since people mostly returned them.
The only place I know of that you might be able to get a preinstalled Linux netbook still is someplace like system76 or whatever it's called, that site that sells Ubuntu preinstalled machines
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I think all the netbooks w/ Linux preinstalled got killed off pretty quickly since people mostly returned them.
That was a long time ago -two years?- at a time when people came from Windows laptops. Netbooks were new, and Linux something for hackers.
Now, Linux is still something for hackers, but people have their android phones, and there are tablets around. Netbooks are not experienced as the underpowered laptops but as a step above the android phone. A Linux netbook might just be the step up from the android gadget.
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I think all the netbooks w/ Linux preinstalled got killed off pretty quickly since people mostly returned them.
That was a long time ago -two years?- at a time when people came from Windows laptops. Netbooks were new, and linux something for hackers.
Now, linux is still something for hackers, but people have their android phones, and there are tablets around. Netbooks are not experienced as the underpowered laptops but as a step above the android phone. A Linux netbook might just be the step up from the android gadget.
Yeah, but why not just get the Windows license? (Score:3)
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Eee PC hardware is Linux friendly (Score:1)
I'm on my second Eee PC now. The first was a 701 (7" screen). The second is a 1001P (10" screen).
The hardware has been well supported in the various kernels because the Eee PC's were popular and ASUS was onside.
The hardest part of sourcing a new Linux-flavoured laptop used to be ensuring that all the hardware worked out of the box.
It was often best to install a Linux-flavour on an older laptop to help ensure all the hardware worked.
However, older laptops had used-battery issues and, of course, older hardw
I've been running it on a 1001 for 15 months (Score:3)
If you're not a fan of the Unity interface (and I get the impression I'm in the minority by liking it) you can easily just boot into good-old-gnome, but given the screen size I never bother. Battery life is a solid 6 hours without being particularly careful (wireless on, screen bright, playing videos with the sound on), dropping to about 4 hours after a year and three months of daily use.
Cracking machine for the money, and Ubuntu sits very nicely on top. My initial review of it is here: Asus 1001p review [blogspot.com]
Running and Asus1001p with UNR (Score:2)
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Microsoft Sues Canonical For Patent Infringement (Score:2)
Film at 11. Or maybe they'll use another surrogate, like SCO.
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What I am more worried about is, when 10.10 becomes obsolete or when 12.04 comes out, can ASUS or Canonical provide a seamless upgrade? As of now, the answer is no, you invariably end up breaking something.
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I suspect that most of the upgrade problems are caused by installing drivers that aren't in the official repositories. I have never had a problem with a system that had only packages from the repos installed. One of my machines has been upgraded in place, version by version, since 6.06; another, since 7.04; and others since 8.04, 8.10, and 9.10. All of them have been upgraded, version by version, to either 10.10 or 11.04 (and I even upgraded to alpha builds on one of those machines!), and not one of them
Re:No Ubuntu 11.04? (Score:4, Insightful)
Thanks but no thanks for the FUD. In the off chance you are a retard and not a troll, please let me explain. It takes considerable time and effort to validate an OS for a piece of hardware. More than two months in fact. Asus has to offer support for these netbooks, so they cannot put an OS on it that has not been thoroughly tested on the hardware. When they started this task, 10.10 was the latest and greatest. Strangely enough, they decided not to start all over in the middle of the process simply because a new release came out. Also, it's pretty ridiculous to call 10.10 "obsolete". Non LTS Ubuntu releases go EoL after 18 months, so 10.10 will not be obsolete for another year.
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"Also, it's pretty ridiculous to call 10.10 "obsolete". Non LTS Ubuntu releases go EoL after 18 months, so 10.10 will not be obsolete for another year."
Well, it is on its way straight to the graveyard. It will no longer be supported next april. If I was a retailler that do not already have some, I probably won't get any. It would be crazy to provide a laptop with an OS that won't even have 10 months of support by the distribution.
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Either that or Unity influence is at work!